I just got my first feline friend. Her name is a bit washy but we are somewhat settled on Kitty Emsee Box. An odd mix of puns, halo references, and generic laziness round out that name. Either way, she is a black and grey tiger striped tabby cat born on 7-23-09 and adopted from the Kennebunk Animal Welfare Society on 10-1-09. She is/was “Sophie”.
Any tips, tricks, stories, advice on owning a 3 month old kitten for a noob. I know there are quite a few cat people on here.
I know someone will want these…
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She’s beautiful, isn’t she? I love mackrel-striped cats and she has gorgeous colouring.
My advice is to get her neutered as soon as she’s old enough and also to get her flea-treated and wormed as soon as she’s able to take the tablets. Get her vaccinated too, for everything! Is she going to be an indoor cat, or will she go outside?
At 3months old she will be very playful so you should make the most of it and have lots of fun because when she gets older she’ll get to the point where you get 10mins of frenetic activity at 3am and then she’ll sleep for the rest of the day!
Emsee came with all of her vaccinations (minus 1 booster shot that I need to get her in a month) and spayed. I also got a free vet visit at any of our local veterinarians with her adoption. The place I adopted her from was great and very helpful!
That’s very helpful! In that case, all you have to do is play with her a lot and remember to post loads of pics because we can never get enough of those adorable little kittypics!
Mine was an adorable little sweetie when she was a kitten, now she’s fully grown and just as lovely.
Our other little boy is just a gorgeous bundle of sleepiness.
Tell me about litter boxes…
I’ve been looking at the self cleaning ones around online and their reviews seem mixed, in general I just want something thats clean and minimal effort to clean. Are the ones with the built in rakes any good? The automated ones? Price really isnt that big of a problem either, for a quality product I’ll shell out some dough…
bnh (That was Caelan typing.)
He says that there is nothing more bonding than dealing with another’s poop. Get a regular box and scoop it yourself.
I agree with Silenus - the normal cheap ones are fine but you may take a while working out what kind of litter suits your cat (and you ) best. We use the small pellets of litter but not the heavily fragranced ones because the cats don’t like the smell of them. The litter tray has a plastic bag as a liner so it’s easy to just scoop the whole lot into the bag and dump it straight out in the rubbish. I don’t have much of a problem with this as my cats are both outdoor mogs so they go and poo in the garden. Or next door, which suits me much better!
Tabby kitties are the best! Congrats on the new one!
I’d skip fancy boxes. Most seem too small and if your cat decides she doesn’t like it, you’re out some dough. Scooping a few times a day is no biggie once you make it a routine. I personally like Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat litter because it clumps hard, is less dusty than other scoopables I’ve used, and is unscented (scented litters give my SO a headache - some are really strong).
My favorite site is http://catinfo.org for feeding and litterbox basics.
Some of my friends spent $300 for one of those fancy self-flushing litter boxes that empties itself down the sewer line like your toilet would. I’m not sure how much they paid the plumber to hook it up.
The cats, predictably, do not go near the thing.
Just get a regular plastic litter tray and a pooper scooper at the local petshop. Use clumping kitty litter (it makes cleanup much simpler) and when your kitty is used to brand X, don’t go changing brands - that can freak cats out, it doesn’t smell right so they may start doing their business elsewhere.
Put the litter box on top of a bit of cheap carpet (I have one of those 6x6 industrial gray rugs from Home Depot) - it’ll help trap any stray bits of litter or unfortunate accidents. Sift it daily (I got a bundle of brown paper lunch bags from Costco, lasts for about a year) and change the litter completely every so often (once a month, perhaps?) - you can sift it some baking soda now and then to help with odors and make sure to add fresh litter periodically as it gets low. When you do the complete change I’d recommend cleaning the litter tray completely (bleach and water or whatever).
For non-poop-related thoughts…plenty of kitty toys and make sure your cat understands that people are not toys - if she chews on your fingers or whatever instead, give her a gentle correction (tap her nose with your finger and say NO). Tons of patting and cuddling, she’s probably past the critical stage but the more that kittens are handled by people when they are relatively young the better they are when older.
Get her used to being brushed and having her claws clipped. The former is pretty easy, there are a bunch of different kitty brushes and most cats love at least one of them. Also at the pet store get a proper cat nail clipper and the next time you’re at the vet (or have a knowledgeable friend who knows how to do it over to your house), get a demonstration and a little practice. It’s pretty simple and will help keep ouches and furniture havoc to a minimum.
I’m in favor of keeping cats indoors (I’ve had both indoor and outdoor/combo varieties)…traffic, other animals and all the other hazards are a lot to worry about. Even a small apartment is plenty of room for a cat.
Get used to the fact that no matter how sleepy your cat is, sometime late at night all hell will break loose and for a few minutes you will have a furry tornado running wild.
